Would you raise taxes already, you sissies?

Every state across the country is scrambling to make ends meet. Budgets are being slashed, jobs are being lost, and benefits (many of them designed for the people who lose their jobs in bad economies) are dwindling down to nothing.

School districts are being hit just as hard, and have resorted to pleading with their communities to pass referendums. When the referendums fail, teachers lose their jobs, and the things that help our kids the most - such as kindergarten programs, extra curricular activities, and counseling services - are tossed to the wayside. Meanwhile, the politicians gain popularity for not raising taxes, and the schools end up looking like the bad guys for trying to get money from the community that they should have gotten from the state.

Such things could have been avoided, if politicians had sucked it up and raised taxes. But they didn't, because public opinion has them scared into doing what's right for their popularity, instead of what's right for their communities.

In the past, many people have said state governments spend too much money in the first place, and that this budget crisis is teaching politicians how to spend more wisely. For anyone who still believes that theory, take a look around. Some of the programs being cut - the ones that supposedly "weren't important" in the first place - include protection and housing for battered women, health care for low-income families, and prescription drugs for seniors.

Why don't we just change the American flag to a picture of poor people being used as stepping-stones? It would be more accurate.

I'm sure I'll get a lot of angry comments from people who don't want their taxes raised. The raising of taxes has become such an overblown issue that many people seem to think of it as a punishment, instead of a normal part of balancing budgets. If the American public had its way, taxes would never be raised again, despite the realities of inflation and common need. But the truth is that periodic increases in taxes keep our country from falling flat on its face.

Unfortunately, politicians are also more than willing to continue this misconception: they lower taxes when there's a surplus, yet refuse to raise them again when there's a deficit. The result is the financial and economic chaos you see across the country today.

Tim Pawlenty - governor of Minnesota, the state I work in - says raising taxes would just make things worse for families. That would be true, if the plan were to raise taxes high enough to pay for the entire deficit at once. But that's not what I'm proposing. I'm proposing full-time responsibility for our political representatives. If the economy starts going downward, they should raise taxes to cut off any major deficits. If the hole in the budget comes as a surprise, raise taxes a little to help bear the burden. Responsibility won't get rid of all deficits, or solve all the economy's problems, but it's certainly the first step in the right direction.

I've written this as a serious column, though what I'm about to suggest will probably get a larger laugh than any joke I've ever told. My suggestion is to call or write your representative and ask them to raise taxes. Tell them you want to see responsibility now, and in the future to boot. Tell them that the myth of lower taxes equaling good political leadership is over. Tell them to wise up, and turn things around before this Legislative session is over.

Otherwise, the next election results may not seem very funny to them.